Complete
by Tallis-chan
Summary: One-shot -- For once, let's not think about the consequences. -ShikaTema-


Slowly, I am becoming used to how Shikamaru and Temari would/should be when writing about them, but I am so addicted to fluff that it's really hard not to just make everything bright, fluffy, and happy.

Of course, this story is completely filled with fluff and lots of it. But hopefully it is improved over my last story. Temari may appear OOC in this story, because I think of myself in a quiet mood, or in the mood to think and this is what I got. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Complete

ShikaTema

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"Hey Nara, are you done yet?" Temari asked as her companion finished up the remains of his meal.

Shikamaru was once again treating the ambassador from Suna to dinner. This had become their usual ritual when she came to Konoha. This dinner was no different from any other that they had together.

He'd take her to the local restaurant and she'd order lots of food since she was so hungry from traveling. However, she'd get full long before all the food was gone and Shikamaru would eat her leftovers. It was what they did, and it worked well for Shikamaru. He'd gotten smart and didn't even order anything for himself since he knew there'd be plenty of food left over for him. And like usual, Temari was waiting for him to finish up the remains of the food she'd ordered.

"Yeah, yeah troublesome woman I'm done." Shikamaru replied while getting up to pay for the food. After doing so, Shikamaru's wallet was considerably thinner than before. However, he never complained about it to her. So Temari never bothered to comment on it. The two left the restaurant quietly and Shikamaru lead to her to the apartment that she lived in while staying there. By now, Temari would have been able to find it even in the dark, but she let Shikamaru take her there anyway.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Ja ne." Shikamaru bid her farewell once they had reached her apartment and turned to leave. Suddenly he felt her grab his wrists to turn him back around. She gave him an angry glare for trying to leave, and let go of his wrists once satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Wait. I have something I want to do first." Temari explained and immediately ran off, motioning for Shikamaru to follow her. Shikamaru only rolled his eyes and muttered something like sounded like 'troublesome' and ran off after her. He followed her all through the town before she stopped, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There she stood and waited for him to catch up to her.

"It's about time." She muttered when he finally caught up to her. He saw that her back was to him, which surprised him actually. Usually, she would never turn her back on anybody. It was one of the things she'd learned while growing up, that everyone should be considered a possible enemy and to never let her guard down. Did this mean that she trusted him? Shikamaru's mind couldn't shut down the possibilities, however unlikely as they seemed. It was one of the curses of having a great mind.

"So what did you want to do?" He asked, trying to get his mind off of how close together he and Temari were. It wasn't doing any good to think about it, so any distraction was fine with him. He noticed that she'd finally turned around to face him. And for once, she actually had a smile on her face. A smile that Shikamaru hadn't seen in a good long while… And strangely, it made him happy inside just to see it.

"Where's the best place to go stargazing, Shikamaru?" She asked curiously.

Shikamaru was surprised at the question to say the least. Every other time she'd come, she'd always kick him around for just cloud gazing. But now, she wanted to gaze at the stars? It didn't make any sense. However, Shikamaru decided to brush the thought aside and actually answer her.

"Well, actually… most likely it would be from your apartment, on the roof of course. Besides the Hokage's building, you have probably the second tallest building around. That would be the best place, because I don't think that Lady Tsunade would be very happy if we used her office like that." Shikamaru explained thoroughly. It really was convenient for both of them, Shikamaru didn't want any more beefs with the Hokage, and Temari wouldn't have to walk home when they were done. It was better for all of them.

"Okay, let's go there then!" She grabbed his arms and dragged him all the way to her house, making sure he didn't just leave or decide to stay behind. She knew how he was after all, and wanted to avoid all problems if possible. Before long they reached the apartment in which Temari stayed in during her visits. Temari quickly jumped up onto the top of the roof, with Shikamaru right behind her.

The night was young, and already there were a few stars out. It was a cloudless night sky. Shikamaru didn't mind that so much during the night time. Temari looked around for a good spot to lie down. Someplace where there wouldn't be any nails or anything to harm them.

After finding a good spot, she sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees. She was wearing the same outfit she'd worn when she came to Shikamaru's rescue during the mission to save Sasuke and strangely enough she was beginning to feel a little self conscience of her appearance.

Shikamaru didn't seem to notice though and just sat down right beside her. He laid his entire body on the roof, using his elbows as a support to look up. Together, they just looked at the sky for a few minutes before Temari decided to speak.

"I think the nights are better in Suna. The dunes look so beautiful when it's not unbearable hot, and the moonlight seems to reflect off them. Actually it probably is since there's a lot of glass in the sand where lighting has stuck it and turned it to glass. In any case, it's beautiful." Temari said, obviously rambling on which was uncommon for her to do. Usually she only said the words necessary for the situation, but rambling… that was new.

"You're probably right, though it probably doesn't storm there that much right? So it's probably not a lot of glass, it could be some other types of minerals or stones hidden in the sand or something." Shikamaru stated. When he doubted what was right to say, he'd always used his logic instead of trying to guess which emotion to feel. It usually worked for him anytime Temari, or even when Ino decided to go all emotional on him.

"Hmm… I guess. Hey Nara, can I ask you something?" Temari asked with something hidden in her voice. For some reason, now… her voice had a much softer tone than usual. It seemed that the night air was calming, since usually Shikamaru would be worried that she was going to pull something on him, but tonight… he wasn't worried at all.

"Hmm? Sure, ask away." He replied waiting for her to respond. She was looking deeply into the night sky while Shikamaru looked at her. And for once, he noted how pretty she was while deep in thought, especially when she wasn't thinking about how to destroy him. It was a nice change.

"What do you think about? All those hours you spend just gazing at the clouds…" She asked sincerely while looking over at Shikamaru, who had his eyebrows creased down as he usually did when he was bothered by something.

He hadn't expected to be asked such a personal question. But he did say that she could ask away, so he tried to figure a response.

"Umm… I guess I think about all the things in my life that are too complicated and try to simplify them. I already know what I want in life, so I don't have to think about that too much. But… everything else in my life is too complicated for my liking. So I sit out here, and think about it." He explained as best as he could.

Temari nodded and kept a calm, contemplative look on her face. Shikamaru could tell she wanted to ask something else, and gave her a nudge in the side with his elbow to urge her on.

"Go ahead, ask." Shikamaru simply stated.

But Temari bit her lip. She knew if she asked, then it could give him the motive to make a lot of fun of her, and she knew he could do it. But…

"Do… do you ever think about me?" She asked sincerely, fearing his response. Because most likely he could either make fun of her for such a personal question, or say no. And honestly, she didn't know which one she preferred.

Shikamaru was fairly shocked to say the least. Temari was never this… personal, or emotional for that matter. But he just laughed and went along with it.

"Sure I do, troublesome woman. You're one of the most complicated things in my life, besides my mom and Ino. I end up having to think about you a lot, especially when you're here." Shikamaru admitted out loud. It wasn't too personal to him since it was probably a known fact that he had to worry about those particular women in his life. Temari just smiled slightly at his response and went back into a thinking mood.

Shikamaru started to reach behind his head and scratch his hair. Lying down had been making his lone ponytail start to itch, and for a second Shikamaru thought about letting it loose. He looked at Temari for a second, and made his decision.

"Hey just curious, but how you ever wondered what my hair looked like without a ponytail?" Shikamaru grinned. The question had caught Temari off guard, and she actually started to blush. She fought back the blush as best as she could while trying to maintain a straight face.

"Sure. Who hasn't wondered how a persons natural hair looks like when they try to hide it." Temari stated seriously and thoughtfully, and her words gave Shikamaru an idea.

"Well then, if I take my ponytail out… then would you take yours out as well?" Shikamaru was smirking by this time. He knew by her statement that she did in fact want to see his hair down, and he also noticed her blush when he mentioned it. He knew he would win, so he raised the stakes; because in fact, he had wanted to see her hair down from the very first time he'd met her.

In all honesty, Temari had been wondering the same thing since she met him. But isn't it like kind of weird since he was a guy? It shouldn't be a very big deal to her, but yet, it was. The idea was very tempting, but… she definitely did not want Shikamaru to see her hair down. She had never once liked it that way, and to show him would probably disappoint his expectations. But… she really, really wanted to see his hair. Damn.

"Okay fine, but you first." Temari bargained. Shikamaru just shrugged his shoulders and raised his arm to take the band out. His dark hair started to pour down and reach down to his shoulders. Despite being in a hair band all the time, his hair was unnaturally straight in a way that made Temari a little bit envious. It's so unfair that all the guys get naturally beautiful hair, such as Sasuke, Neji, and apparently even Shikamaru.

Shikamaru watched her as she took in his image. This was probably the only time she'd ever see it, so she was taking her sweet time. But for Shikamaru, he started to feel nervous inside. He could feel his face starting to heat up when she stared at it for too long. And the lack of information about if she even liked it or not. The suspense was starting to kill him. For once, he actually felt a great need to look really good to her. And that was a strange feeling to him.

Despite the fact that he knew probably exactly how red his face was, Shikamaru tried his hardest to give a serious expectant look. He had taken his hair down, now it was her turn. Temari seemed to freeze visibly in a way that made Shikamaru almost laugh on the inside. He just had to tease her about it.

"Well now… the big bad-ass Temari is too scared to even let her hair down. What a shame." Shikamaru teased, letting a chuckle out. Temari just glared at him, angry at the fact that he knew exactly how to get her to do something. She was one to never back down from a challenge, but this… was here harder for her to do than she thought. She raised her hand to undo the bands, gaining confidence by the second. She started to tug at the bands, but then she reached a problem.

"…They won't come out." She muttered softly lowering her gaze. Shikamaru couldn't hold in his laughter this time and let out a loud chuckle. He hadn't laughed like that in a long time. Everything was usually just too troublesome. Temari was naturally bugged that he was laughing at her, but actually… it was pretty funny. She waited for him to stop with a smile on her face, till the laughter subsided.

The sky was even darker now with more stars in the sky. The moon was out, but covered at the moment by passing clouds. Temari started pulling at the bands again when Shikamaru motioned for her to sit right beside him that would leave only a few inches of space between them. Temari immediately felt her face heat up. She had not expected him to be so straightforward if for some crazy reason he did have feelings for her. No, she didn't want her hopes up.

"Wha, what?" Temari stuttered, and Shikamaru just grinned softly seeming to have no problem with what was going on. In his mind, he was trying to understand why she was nervous. This was Temari… and from everything he knew of her, she was never ever like this. What had gotten into her? He sighed, trying to escape his thoughts and focus on the present.

"I'll help you get the bands out." He simply said, not giving it a second thought.

Temari felt like a fool for thinking that he was doing that for more intimate reasons, and complied. She got up and plopped down right beside him. Then she turned around to have her back face Shikamaru and let him give it a try. Shikamaru strangely felt really nervous to have her right beside him like that, but pushed the thought aside.

There was a reason that Temari couldn't get the bands out. Temari's straw blonde hair had basically threaded around the bands. Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder if she fell asleep with her hair in ponytails, and couldn't really believe that she did because he knew just how uncomfortable that could be sometimes. A few times, like right after missions, he would come home and immediately just go to sleep without taking out his hair band or changing clothes. And each time, his head would hurt worse than before because of it.

But nonetheless, he started working on the bands. Little by little, he loosened the bands careful to not pull on her hair too much. He didn't want to hurt her. He guessed that something like pulling a few hairs wouldn't really bother her, but sometimes pulling out delicate hairs hurt… like heck. And tonight was so nice between them that he didn't want to ruin the mood any. It was strange to have been together this long alone, without arguing about something. Really, it was a blessing.

Temari let herself relax when she realized how careful Shikamaru was being with her. It surprised her of course, to see that he was actually very gentle. She never expected him to gentle with her of all people, but there was a lot of things she didn't expect Shikamaru to feel. Especially something he was slowly to feel by being so close to her. Naturally, she was very unaware of these things.

Something inside of him was changing dramatically by each passing second his spent so close to Temari. His mind began to wonder in ways that he wished it wouldn't. He never thought of her so… physically unless he knew he was safe and alone. But right now, he could take in so much of her. Her neck was bare since her head was lifted to help Shikamaru have a good position for fixing the bands. However, his mind couldn't stop thinking about what it would be like to just… kiss her. Starting there… and leading up to…

"What's taking you so long?" Temari asked impatiently. Shikamaru was quickly knocked out of the daydream as quickly as he'd fallen into it. Suddenly Shikamaru got scared that Temari just somehow knew what he was thinking about. It gave him chills, and to ignore the feeling, he concentrated on her hair bands again, eager to see what it would look like, for some reason…

Finally Shikamaru had loosened the bands enough that they finally came off. One by one, he hadn't been able to imagine before what it would look like, by he knew inside that whatever he could have thought was definitely not as good as the real thing. Having her hair down, gave her such a… look of maturity and beauty that Shikamaru hadn't really been able to see before. The four pigtails could sometimes come off as childish, though she could pull it off very well. But this… was nothing in comparison.

Maybe it was because he had grown taller, or that he had proved himself to be strong too, but he hadn't really realized that she was older than him till now. She was filled with such beauty that only an actually woman possessed. And… he liked her that way.

Temari noticed his stare and looked away quickly. Now more than ever she felt so exposed. She had never been with a man like this before. Never so… open, and intimate before. And strangely, it made her feel so free and as if nothing could stop her ever again. The two made eye contact again, trying to find what the other person is thinking by looking into their. Temari couldn't decipher what Shikamaru was thinking behind that glazed look on his face.

But Shikamaru could see how Temari was feeling. Her face showed all the signs of being… scared, nervous, timid. All the things she wasn't. And really, it was starting to get to him.

"How come you're so… timid tonight? You aren't bothering to argue about anything the whole time we've been up here. What's going on?" Shikamaru dared to ask. It was an answer that he wouldn't be able to figure out on his own, so he had to ask out loud. He only hoped that her reason wasn't bad, because actually he liked this less troublesome side of her.

"I… really don't know. I'm guess I just feel quiet tonight. The sky is beautiful, and it just makes me think that talking too loud would chase it away." Temari explained. Shikamaru smiled and stared at her. She was so at pace to just look up at the stars without a worry in the world. Slowly, unsurely, he put his arm around her and stroked this other side of her arm.

"I bet it's rare for you to be like this, at peace, with not a worry in the world." He simply said, stroking her arm some more. He felt wonderful to be able to give some sort of physically affection to the girl, woman that he had grown to have feelings for. For a long time, Temari didn't respond. She didn't move away or closer to Shikamaru and she didn't talk. Shikamaru looked at her eyes, hoping for some contact, but all he could see was the stars reflected in them.

"…Yeah. It is." She finally responded, slowly putting her head on his. She could feel him breathe a sigh of relief at her giving into her wants. At first she had no clue how to feel, but after what Shikamaru said, she realized that she never did anything for herself. For once, she wanted to do something without the fear of consequences.

"Shikamaru, kiss me." She told him, into his chest. She felt his body freeze and his muscles tighten just at those words. Both of their breathing patterns had gone crazy and Temari knew she had get off his chest and look in the eye now. It was judgment time.

"What?" His breath was shaking, his voice hitched. He was frightened. She could tell, but this… this was going to be worth it. She was sure.

"Don't you have feelings for me?" Temari asked simply, to which the Konoha could only shake his head yes to. To which Temari just rolled her eyes at.

"Then kiss me lazy-ass." Temari told him, her reasoning seemed to finally make sense in his head. It explained exactly why she'd been so reserved before. What she was probably thinking about, was him. Why she would ask such a thing. It started to make sense. Tonight was going to be special to them… a night of not worrying about the consequences.

Shikamaru had never kissed a girl in his entire life before then. Sure many people figured he and Ino would have hit off. But Ino wasn't like Temari. Temari was so much more…

He learned in, half hoping that she'd meet him half way. His arms snagged around her waist, bringing her closer to him. Temari felt so much emotion stir within that she had never let out before. She had never allowed herself to love before, but tonight… it finally come out.

Her lips attacked his with such great force that he didn't know what hit him. Her need for him surprised him to say the least. She craved him; she wanted him in such a way he hadn't known was possible. She nearly jumped him, causing Shikamaru's balance to fail and it ended with Temari on top of him, kissing him with so passion that Shikamaru didn't know what to think.

The night wind started to blow hard then, making Shikamaru's dark hair cover her face as well while they kissed. Her hair accented the night sky like how the sun looks as it comes up for a new day. Temari's skirt was started to whip in the wind as well. Shikamaru's body quickly reacted with the feeling of Temari's bare thighs rested right on him. He became conscience of her very presence of physically being as he had never thought of before.

They stopped kissing for a second to catch their breath. Shikamaru and Temari were both panting hard, soaking in the moment. Temari decided to take an even bigger chance for something else she wanted in this life, though her brothers would kill her for it if it back fired. But tonight… to hell with what her brother's opinions were.

She started to push herself off of Shikamaru, and for a second he wondered if he had done something wrong, if his lack of experience actually cost him dearly. But his fears were soon relieved when she put her hand out to help him up.

"Come on. Let's go inside." Was all that she said and that night they made love for the very first time, but certainly not the last.

And despite it probably being the most troublesome thing in the world, Shikamaru realized that he needed Temari as much as she needed him. To feel whole, complete in his life.

They were too completely different people and lead very separate lives. But nothing changed the fact that in reality they were two people very much in love. They needed each other, body and soul. And despite the arguments, and the now very possible sexual tension whenever they saw each other in other company… it was worth it. Just at least for that one night.

Just for once Temari felt complete and Shikamaru had found meaning in life and the stars will always remember that night forever and ever.

_Fin_


End file.
